#Mobilization

To become a Special Forces Operator in Ukraine, you first have to survive selection: six days and six nights of crawling, marching, exhaustion, and pain. I joined the process—twice—to look behind the curtain of one of the country's most secretive military units. I didn't pass (big surprise), but I came away with a deeper understanding of the people fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine.

“People are afraid of the unknown,” says Mykhailo. His job is to turn civilians into soldiers in under two months. That training is now evolving—shifting toward more tech, simulators, and underground facilities to prepare recruits for drone warfare.